Joseph Mallord William Turner

Rendered with agile line, this sketch depicts the hollowed and crumbling ruins of the Grevenburg Castle with Trarbach below. Grevenburg was constructed in 1350 by Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg but was later conquered in 1680 by Louis XIV of France and extended, together with the fort of Montroyal, as part of the King’s artillery.1 The castle was besieged on a number of occasions between 1702 and 1730 and was finally destroyed by the French in 1734.2

For other sketches of Trarbach and the Grevenburg see Tate D28391–D28394, D28400–D28401; Turner Bequest CCXC 21a–22a, 25a–26. See also the First Mossel and Oxford sketchbook of the 1839 tour (Tate D28308, D28310; Turner Bequest CCLXXXIX 9a, 10a). For other 1839 colour drawings see Tate D20223, D20234, D20240, D20259, D20275; Turner Bequest CCXX P, CCXXI A, G, Z, CCXXII P).